Kyle Wright Named Hurricanes' Starting Quarterback
April 26, 2005
Coral Gables, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – Kyle Wright was named the starting quarterback of the Miami Hurricanes today by head coach Larry Coker. Wright, a sophomore from Danville, Calif., passed for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the April 9 spring game. He beat out redshirt freshman Kirby Freeman in a hotly contested job that was close throughout the spring.
“This is something I’ve been waiting for the past three years, and it’s a good feeling to know that my hard work is starting to pay off,” said Wright. “But there’s even more hard work ahead to get where I want to be personally and where we need to be as a team. I haven’t played and I haven’t proved myself on the field yet, so the summer is crucial for me to show my teammates that I can get the job done. Now I have to elevate my game to get the job done. I told Coach Coker that I’m not going to become complacent. This will make me even hungrier to prove that I deserve it.
“I have some big shoes to fill. There’s been a long line of tradition here with a lot of great quarterbacks who have been successful and won national championships,” he continued. “It’ll be great to try to live up to that. Hopefully one day they’ll add my name to that list of great UM quarterbacks.”
Coker commented, “I really like both players. We have two outstanding quarterbacks, and I don’t know that I’ve ever been around a program that has two quality quarterbacks like we have here. We can win with both players. Kyle deserves the nod at this time. From our standpoint, Kyle is further ahead. He’s been here an additional year and he has more knowledge of the offense. But Kyle knows he can’t relax, and Kirby knows he can pour the heat on. They’re both going to win a lot of football games for the University of Miami.
“Kyle knows that to win the job is good, but this is just the starting point,” Coker said. “Now we have to win games.”
In the spring game, Wright completed 10 of 13 passes (76.9 percent). He hooked up with Ryan Moore on a 23-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and then threw a 38-yard scoring pass to Darnell Jenkins in the third period. Wright was not intercepted.
The 6-4, 220-pound Wright played in two games last season, completing 5 of 9 passes for 30 yards. He was the backup to Brock Berlin for the first half of the season. However, a sprained ankle and an allergic reaction to a bee sting prevented him from playing again. Wright was widely regarded as the nation’s top high school quarterback at Monte Vista High School and was the 2002 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and a Parade All-American.
Freeman, a 6-3, 195-pounder from Brownwood, Texas, did not play as a freshman and was redshirted. In the spring game, he completed 7 of 18 passes for 109 yards and two interceptions. He also ran six times for 20 yards. “I’m disappointed, but I knew this needed to be done,” said Freeman. “We needed to name a leader for this team, and I feel good about it. Kyle knows that I have his back 100 percent. My role now is to push Kyle and make him a better quarterback.”
The Hurricanes will open the 2005 season on Labor Day night, September 5 against the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee. It will be Wright’s first collegiate start. “I get goosebumps thinking about going to play in Tallahassee for my first start,” Wright said. “It’ll be exciting.”
